124 
SINGULAR BIRD. 
[1820. 
of our journey was not to destroy game, merely 
for the sake of feasting on it ; but that our shoot- 
ing was only for our support while travelling, and 
Providence having already supplied us liberally 
for that object, we could not consent to halt ; 
but we assured him that our men should do all 
in their power to kill more as we went forward. 
Near midnight a bird alighted on a tree opposite 
the tent, whose cry so much resembled the 
barking of a dog, that even the dogs them- 
selves seemed deceived by it, and joined in full 
chorus. 
July 1st. The blue crocus in flower abounds in 
the desert, and the root is relished by the natives ; 
it is much larger than those of England. The 
oxen having strayed during the night, it was ten 
A.M. before they were collected and put to the 
waggons, at which time we left Makrooman. 
Birds' nests, resembling those in England, viz. 
without a roof, were to be seen almost in every 
large bush, but so slightly constructed that they 
went to pieces almost on the touch. Scarcity of 
rain and violent winds, perhaps induces them to 
build thus slightly. The country over which we 
travelled, parallel to the eastern front of the 
mountains of Laheisey, was pleasantly inter- 
spersed with trees and tall withered grass, fre- 
quently reaching to the backs of the oxen. The 
